The Forgotten Stories
by SpartanHoplite
Summary: You think that everyone had the luxury of having expert training and state of the art equipment? You think that everyone was saved at the last moment by a incoming pelican, relief squad or, even if they fell in battle, finished their objective to save the , these are the forgotten stories of those who tried and failed while serving the UNSC with undying courage and sacrifice.


The sun was going down over the Indian Ocean; its last warming rays slowing disappearing into the water below. Emergency lights began to turn on around Sergeant Lee and her men, the pale white glow doing little to brighten her mood. She returned slowly into the bank. The once glass doors now lay on the ground in pieces. They cracked under the weight of her gear and boots. Men, women and children sat in the vault behind the counters. An aura of fear surrounded them. Money covered the floor, the now worthless notes worn and disregarded. A dead marine sat in the corner of the wall and the counters facing the entrance; a pool of blood was slowly seeping its way around the man's body.

"Henriques." Rachel waved her second-in-command over.

The tired looking giant stood up slowly, wincing as he extended his right knee. He limped over with a small smile on his face.

"Never thought we would be fighting on Earth." He muttered to her.

Rachel didn't have the same mentality around the situation, ignoring the comment. "I want to take another patrol out. Try and find any stragglers, maybe find some ammunition and replacements for our weapons. Hopefully get someone who has a working radio and find out what the fuck it going on."

"I'm guessing you want some volunteers." Henriques said looking over his shoulder at the tired men sitting against the wall.

Several of the men looked up before bowing their heads in reluctance. Some stood up and walked over to the two leaders. Rachel took the first three that stood up; letting the four others remain behind with Henriques to protect the civilians.

Tom Jones, Yelen Illingworth, Rick Hart had all volunteered. They were the same three that had gone out last time, but had to carry back Issac Headly, the dead marine sitting in the corner after a Jackal sniper picked him off during a brief skirmish with a group of grunts.

The group moved out soon after the very last slivers of light receded from the city. The last emergency lights turned on around the city, at least the ones that were still working.

The bank was in a small side street that ran underneath the buildings above. They turned right out onto the street and turned right again onto the main road. Burnt out cars littered the road. Those that were lucky enough to survive the flames had their windows smashed in and were covered in dents.

Distant echoes of explosions and firefights surrounded the group. Occasionally they sounded too close for comfort.

The group continued to move through the wreckages looking for survivors.

"For all the fighting we're hearing, we aren't finding many dead bodies. Save the civilians." Illingworth noted.

"This area of the city doesn't have much of strategic importance. All the military bases are further inland or on the water. The police headquarters is also near the harbor. There is no reason to be fighting over many parts of the city." Lee replied swiftly.

"I understand that Sarg, but still; I mean they still have to move in-between those locations, not to mention that the Covenant are hell-bent on eliminating every human that they see." Illingworth argued. "You see, I had a mate on Reach who managed to get out on an ONI ship when he ended up running into a couple of ONI agents while on the ground. And he was saying that they were hiding out in the rubble of a suburb at the edge of one of the cities and the Covenant still swept through there. No strategic importance and the ONI agents had remained undetected as well. Explain that Sarg."

"Well Yelen, I don't concern myself to thinking about why the bastards aren't running through this area. Instead I'm worrying about surviving this whole ordeal."

"Do you guys reckon that they didn't bring enough ships? I saw the news footage and there weren't many of them. At least compared to many other invasions, less than half of the size that attacked Reach. They could just be stretched thin and need to consolidate their forces." Hart added.

The group stopped at a crossroad. "Everyone shut up. Illingworth you better have brought that map with you." Lee grunted.

"No problem Sarg, have I ever let you down?" Yelen replied handing the map over to the Sergeant.

"Multiple times."

Rachel took the map and examined it closely. "Any street signs?" She asked.

Everyone shook their heads as they moved around looking for fallen signs. "Everything must have been automated. This city was pretty advanced, even for Earth." Tom said.

"Fuck, alright. Until we can find out the road names this crossroad is Point Bravo, the bank is Point Alpha. We need to grab some more maps if we pass a tourist shop. "

The group nodded and they crossed over the wide crossroad. The carnage along the street was getting worse and worse as they moved on. More pools of blood and bodies were littered along their route.

"Look, the bodies." Tom said pointing towards a pile of bodies.

The bodies had been deliberately moved aside and piled up into a jammed doorway. Two soldiers were among the dead.

"Tom, look for ammo and a working radio. Yelen, Rick, let's try and find anything else around here."

The men nodded and separated scanning the road for any sign of useful gear or information.

"The Covenant wouldn't have stacked the bodies. Friendlies have been through here. Where were they going?" Tom questioned.

"Hopefully they didn't go far. We're going to the next crossroad and then turning back. By the looks of things we might run into trouble before that." Lee said trying to get her men's minds back on target."

"Roger."

"Found nothing but blood and more bodies." Yelen sighed.

"Same here." Rick added.

"Tom, any success?" Rachel asked.

"None, they've been picked clean." He replied.

"Alright let's keep moving. Spread out so we can cover the whole road."

The group continued down the deserted road. Black scorch marks covered the walls and in certain places piles of empty shell casings covered the ground, often accompanied by a pool of blood.

"Must have been a hell of a fight." Tom noted.

"Shut it Tom. We don't need the commentary."

It was disturbingly quiet. The buildings were getting taller cutting out any light coming from the moon. The flickering emergency lights provided the very faint light guiding the team down the road.

"What the fuck is that?" Tom muttered with his jaw dropped.

"Fuck me, the fucking monsters." Rick added.

Blocking the roads in front and to the right of the intersection were walls of cars and bodies.

"So that's where all the bodies have gone." Illingworth sighed, turning away from the intersection. "Let's head back."

"Fuck me, half the streets are blocked. The Covenant have been busy." Jones muttered.

"As long as it means that they stay in their boundaries it's fine by me." Hart replied.

"You both do realize that by the end of this we'll have to go in there and clear them out." Illingworth added pessimistically.

"Shut up and stay focused. The fuckers probably still have patrols around their perimeter and scouts in the buildings." Lee ordered them.

The group fell silent as they moved quickly across a street. A flickering emergency light illuminated an entrance to the subway system. Rachel stopped the squad, scanning the area for Jackal scouts.

"Illingworth, what do you think the odds are that there are scouts watching that entrance?" She asked.

"One fucking hundred percent."

"And what are the odds that there are civilians and/or marines down there?"

"Eighty-five percent."

They stood in the darkness for another couple of minutes. Rachel continued to stare at the entrance, just hoping that something might happen; that a full squad of marines would come out.

The three other marines spread out, forming an awkward semi-circle with the wall behind them. Hart slumped against an information booth and began to go through the map stand.

Rachel remained standing, only occasionally scanning around to see if Jackal scouts were obviously watching.

"Boss, look if we are going to sit around here any longer this patrol is going to be a waste of time." Jones muttered annoyingly.

Rachel dropped her head in defeat. "Alright let's go back. From now on this in Point Black."

The group slowly started to weave in and out of the thick bundle of cars away from the wall of cars.

"Do you reckon we are the ones being boxed in? I mean maybe they want to secure the area first. They've cleaned the streets of bodies and in most places cars as well." Tom started.

"Not now Jones, we all just need a bit of time."

There was an almighty thud and crash of broken glass as something landed on the car next to the group. "Fuck, spread out!" Rachel shouted.

The men all bolted for cover, sliding behind other cars and various debris. "What the fuck was that?"

"Anyone have eyes on the car?" Rachel asked.

"Negative, no view from here." Illingworth replied quickly.

"Neither, too dark from here to see." Tom said more relaxed.

"Almost, it looks like a body. I'm going in for a closer look." Hart said with intent.

"No get back here Rick!" Tom yelled out.

"Shut up Jones, you might as well tell the whole city our location."

"Well fuck he's fucking exposed out there!"

"Cut down on the swearing. We want the communication clear boys." Rachel said calmly as she realized that no one had started shooting at them, which was very unlike the trigger happy Covenant.

Tom had stood up straight and was examining the bird like creature that was laid out broken over the hood of the car. "Never had the time to really appreciate how ugly these things are." He noted.

"Are you sure it's dead?" Rachel asked as she approached with her gun raised.

Tom looked up to see a silhouette of man crouched man on top of one of the buildings. Tom gave the man a wave as the silhouette disappeared.

"Psst!" Someone echoed.

"Was that one of you guys?" Rick asked.

"No, it came from one of the shops I think."

"Psst, over here. Look here, behind you." The voice called.

"Which one of us are you talking to?" Tom questioned as he turned around in circles.

Three bodies came out of a side alley with their weapons raised towards the rooftops. They grabbed each member of the group and dragged them back into the darkness.

"What the fuck do you think you guys are doing?" An angry voice demanded.

Rachel stepped forward. "I am Sergeant Rachel Lee, 3rd Roost Division/1st Regiment/ 1st Battalion/Kilo Company/ 4th Platoon/ 2nd Squad. These are my men, Private Tom Jones, Private Rick Hart, and Corporal Yelen Illingworth." She said tired and casual.

"Eh, right. Well I'm Captain Brand, this squad I've got here is a mixture of survivors that we have managed to round up. But that doesn't answer my question Sergeant, what the fuck were you doing shouting about out there?"

"Wait, weren't you watching us the whole time?" Tom asked.

"No, Private." The Captain sneered. "We weren't, the only reason we knew you were out there was because of the noise you were making."

"So that wasn't your guy on the rooftop? The guy who dropped a Jackal onto the car?" Rachel added.

The Captain shook his head. "No idea."

One of the Captain's men stepped forward. "Wait did you see the man looking down at you from a building?" The man asked.

"Yea, didn't wave back though." Tom replied.

"Wait what is going on?" The Captain asked holding up his hands.

"Well you see Sir." The man started. "Right before that ship jumped out of the city there was a plan to drop ODSTs onto the Covenant ship and board it from above, but they missed by only several seconds. The ODSTs landed all over the city, most survived from what I heard and have been assisting local forces at key positions. When I was still with my squad a force of grunts and brutes with Jackal support engaged us in a built up area. We were forced to slug it out with the bastards but we realized the Jackals were dropping off the roofs. We made out the outline of ODST armor and then he disappeared. It could be the same guy."

The Captain nodded. "That's all well and good, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the amount of noise made out there would have attracted more than just our attention." He turned to Rachel. "Is this all your men?"

"No Sir, we left the other half of the squad to defend a group of civilians at a bank back across the intersection down the road."

"Alright then." The Captain turned to his men. "Westly, Roe." He said pointing at two men. "Stay here and grab any other friendly unit that comes to investigate the noise. Do not engage any Covenant forces that come. Disappear into the side streets and make your way down the road towards the bank."

"Sir, we have no idea where the bank is." One of the men said.

"Just follow the road away from the wall. You'll cross over an intersection and two minutes later you'll come across. We'll station someone outside to collect you." Rachel told them.

They both nodded before returning into the darkness of the alleyway.

"Alright, lets move out." The Captain said looking around at the ragtag group of marines.

They moved more cautiously down the road this time. The clouds overhead began to rumble and the sound of rain soon drowned out the footsteps of the group. Everyone scanned the road and rooftops as they moved along. Every storefront had a light shone in it and every alleyway was explored. The Captain was a very cautious man and he wasn't taking any chances that they were being followed.

The faint light that the emergency lights had given off were now dimmed out by the rain, now just a glowing reminder where the buildings were. The group was making good time despite their caution much to Rachel's relief as she realized how long she had been gone.

"Halt!" A voice boomed further down the road. "Are you human?" The same voice said with a degree of hesitation.

The whole group scuttled for cover behind cars or shop fronts.

"Um, yea, I think so." The Captain said with the same amount of confusion. He hadn't heard that question before. No one of rank or experience would ask that.

Both parties stood up from their positions and walked towards each other.

"Henriques, is that you?" Rachel asked the darkness-hidden men.

"Thank god, it's Sarg." The same man said with relief.

The rest of the men sighed in relief. The two other marines hugged each other as if their savior had come.

"Where is Henriques?" Rachel demanded.

The marine scratched the back of his head. "Henriques is dead Sarg. So is Jason. There are just three of us left. The civilians are fine, but we ran into another bunch of them. Final count was 43 civilians."

"Fuck." Rachel muttered taking seat on the hood of a car.

The Captain moved through the group of marines who were introducing themselves with their three new squad mates.

"What's the plan Sarg?" He asked modestly.

Rachel snapped out of her sullen trance. "You're the highest ranking officer. It's up to you Sir."

He squatted with a grin on his face. "To be honest with you Sergeant, you've got more battle experience than I have." He looked over to the cheerful marines as they chatted away. "Did you fight with Matthew Drastly?"

Rachel cocked her head at the question. "How is that relevant to the situation?"

Captain Brand still had what was a childish smile on his lips. "I graduated from the French Military College four months ago." He shook his head. "I thought I was going to be spending my time as a Captain on a remote planet or part of a marine detachment on a frigate somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Yet here I am, on Earth, fighting the Covenant." He looked over at the marines again. "They don't realize what you and some of your men have been through."

"Oh yea?" Rachel was getting defensive. "And what have we been through?"

"Roost, not many heard about what happened on the surface. The main reports were that the planet was lost after a tough and drawn-out defense. At the college we went over the usefulness in the deployment of mini-MAC cannons as a way to deter glassing." He continued.

"I couldn't give two shits less about what you fucking studied. Get on with your story or don't tell me at all." Rachel demanded.

"When you said that you were from 3rd Roost Division I knew who you were. The others might, but they don't understand what you have been through. The death, the blood, accepting death, fighting alongside Colonel Matthew Drastly. You have more experience than me in all regards. You make the decision, so, what's next Sarg?" He said in a quiet voice.

"Well fuck you didn't need to go through your life story to tell me mine." Rachel quirked.

"Alright, insult me, get it out. Then tell me what we are doing."

Sergeant Lee let out a sigh. "We can't stay here and we can't go back the way we came. So we are going to have to do something we can't." She stood up. "We have no idea what is down this road." Pointing down the opposite direction in which they came. "So we go back towards where we met you. I spotted a metro station; we can hole up in there until morning."

"Ok then, let's go."

The Captain stood up again. "Alright, we are moving back down to our original position. Grab the civilians and move out as quickly as possible."

The group of 14 marines slowly urged the civilians out of their comfortable bank vault. Some put up an argument to lock themselves within while others urged the rest to join the marines. Eventually they had all 43 of the civilians out in the cold rain.

The group began moving slowly through the puddle-ridden road. They moved as quickly as they could. The cold men, women and children murmuring complaints amongst themselves as they shivered in their unprepared clothing.

A sharp and loud 'ping' sound made everyone jump.

"Johnny!" A marine shouted as he jumped down to aid his fallen comrade.

"Let's get a move on!" The Captain yelled.

Then the screaming started. There was an unfamiliar roar as a Phantom seamlessly cruised overhead before landing and unloading its contingent of grunts and brutes behind the group.

"Tom, Rick, Yelen! With me!" Rachel shouted.

The three marines moved through the crowd to their Sergeant with grins plastered on their faces. The group of four took up positions behind wrecked cars, checking their ammo count in sync.

"Hey, get out of here buddy!" Tom yelled to the marine knelling over his dead friend.

There was another sharp 'ping' and the second marine fell to his side, blood squirting out of his neck.

"Fucking hell!" Tom yelled as he started to pepper the rooftops with bullets.

The wild spray hit nothing and only caused the sniper to start targeting Tom. Several 'pings' rung out as the shards of alien glass struck the car door.

"Sarg, we can't fight them here. We can't see them for fuck sake." Rick said as he moved back slightly to another car.

The main force of Covenant soldiers heading towards them hadn't opened fire yet. Rachel weighed in her options before giving the nod, allowing the group to move quickly and catch up with the group.

One of the marines noticed us bringing up the rear and came up to the four marines. "Where are Johnny and Paul?" He questioned solemnly.

Rachel shook her head as the men moved to join the rest of the group.

There were no-more complaints from the civilians, they were dead-set scared. So was she, Rachel realized. Her heart rate had bounced and she had found it difficult to muster enough courage to even peek over the hood of the car when she was back there. She was nothing like the person she left behind on Roost.

There were more 'pings' as the Covenant snipers began to seriously open fire on the exposed group. Women screamed, men cowered in fear, and the children started to cry.

"Keep moving! Keep your heads down!" The Captain yelled.

There was a stampede as everyone tried to move to the front as quickly as possible. The smaller and weaker among the civilians fell to the ground or were pushed out of the way. Then there was a roar.

Rachel looked over her shoulder to spot in the distant darkness a pair of massive aliens. Their massive guns glowing bright green in the darkness of the night.

"Run! Run!" A marine yelled.

The group sped across the first intersection. Covenant sniper shots fell short but were getting closer and closer every time. Rain pelted down on the group, soaking them to the skin. The terrified and drenched civilians scrambling to get to the front of the group, a testament to their trust in the marine guarding their rear.

A green ball of plasma crashed into a car behind the group sending it flying through the air before smashing into a storefront and disintegrating as the plasma ate through the metal.

The screams grew from the civilians you began to push and shove each other more. Yet they weren't screaming at the burning wreck of the car. At the front of the group were the two men that they had left behind. Their bodies had been hung up on the street signs. Below them a line of Covenant forces raised their weapons.

"Push through!" The Captain yelled. "Push to the metro station!"

The marines at the front of the group began to open fire as they marched forward. The Covenant forces began to return fire screaming in rage as they did. The marines managed to pick off the majority of the grunts while pushing back the Brutes, causing them to fall back.

"Keep pushing!" The Captain yelled as he continued to fire.

There was a roar as a Brute leaped over a set of cars, charging with its hammer. A startled marine emptied his clip into the massive Beast to no avail. Bone smashed to pieces and internal organs were ruptured as the hammer swept the marine aside, killing him instantly.

"Take it down!" Another marine yelled.

A focused effort from the frightened marines managed to take down the Brute before it could cause any more damage. With a roar of pain it fell to the group with a thud.

The group moved as quick as they could down the road. There was a high-pitched scream coming from an alleyway. From within it, out came two grunts, their little legs carrying them towards the group. They screamed as they ran. In their hands were two grenades each.

"Fuck." Was the only word a marine managed to say before he was plastered across a car.

The second grunt ran through the smoke and into the fearful group of civilians.

"No!" The Captain screamed at the top of his voice.

The explosion sent most of the marines and civilians hurdling towards the ground.

Rachel opened her eyes in time to see another Brute bring its hammer down onto the Captain. Everything seemed to be going slow. There was screaming and crying from the civilians as they searched the ground for their dead friends and family.

"Sarg!" A familiar voice yelled.

Suddenly Rachel felt her legs being dragged and soon her whole body followed.

"Sarg! Wake up!"

She looked up to look into Tom Jones's tearful eyes. He waved a hand in front of her face; two of his fingers were missing. Rachel began to slowly remember the task at hand.

"How many marines are left?" She asked coarsely.

Tom looked around urgently. "Three, four, five, six." He counted. "Only six he said grimly.

"Get me up. Find me a gun." Rachel said as she tried to push herself up off the ground.

One of her arms refused to move, while the other was doing all the work. Rachel looked down at her left arm, except there was no arm anymore. Blood dripped from where her shoulder used to be. She looked back over towards where she had been dragged from, a tattered arm lay there holding her assault rifle.

"I'm sorry Sarg, I think your work here is done." Tom said remorsefully before moving back behind cover with the rest of the marines.

Bullets, glass, and plasma all flew overhead. Rachel lay down, exhausted and hurt. Shock began to kick in and her hands began to shake. She watched as marine after marine was picked off. The cowering civilians fell to the group quickly, blood pouring from their wounds before a family member rushed to their side, soon to also fall to a sniper shot or grenade.

Rachel looked to the sky expecting a frigate to burst through the clouds along with its contingent of pelicans, to come to save her again, like they had on Roost. Yet the clouds remained dark and blank.

Soon the amount of fire started to thin out, yet the screams remained. The screams of marines cradling their wounds or the screams of the civilians as they wept over the bloody bodies of their loved ones. Rachel watched on hopelessly as a Hunter raised its plasma cannon and fired into the huddled group of civilians. The screams of the burning men, women, and children echoed through the Kenyan night. The screams continued, piercing the heat of the summer night making Rachel fell cold. Then one by one the screams came to a stop.

Rachel coughed sending blood flying into the air only to come back down on her face. A brute took notice and walked over to the single armed marine dragging its hammer along the ground behind it. Rachel looked at the beast as it raised its hammer.

"Pitiful human." It spat before bringing the hammer down with enough force to crack the concrete below Rachel's head.


End file.
